Work?

For a number of reasons, I have been thinking about leaving my job recently.  Nothing has happened at worked that is so horrible I just cant stay any longer, but there have been a number of events that have grown into a fairly big desire to throw my name into the job market.  I haven't done anything about said desire yet, and I don't think I will until the end of the summer, but it is on my mind and so I am writing it down.  One reason I have been thinking more about a new job this week is that I read an article in "Smart Money Magazine" about revenue management in the banking industry.  I have always found it interesting to contemplate pricing and how you can sell services and market products, and this article fit right into those thoughts.  

In the article they profiled two of the biggest names in revenue management, and it turns out one of them runs a consulting company whose headquarters are 2 miles from where I currently reside.  His company helps identify solutions to increasing top line revenue for their clients, something that sounds pretty interesting.  I found out I only have a few degrees of separation from the CEO and one of the members of the Board.  These tidbits have left me daydreaming of what it would be like to work there.  Obviously I am no where near an interview, let alone a job transition, so it is all just wistful thoughts as of now.  A boy can dream right?

Bakers Dozen?

Some of our local church leaders have challenges our congregation to learn a set of scripture verses that we call "The Articles of Faith."  Today during church a representative of these leaders, after stressing the importance of the challenge and speaking about how he believes it is inspired, asked the congregation how many of us had memorized all 12 verses.  Too bad there are actually 13 verses.  The best part is the speaker didn't realize his mistake until several people on the stand said 13, progressively louder, until the speaker heard them.   Poor guy, he started off his talk with several jokes that didn't get so much as a courtesy laugh (he even paused expecting laughter, and almost didn't believe that there wasn't any) and this mistake drew the biggest laughs of the day.  At least he knew a majority of the congregation was paying attention.

Vitamins

I just saw the following headline on CNN.com:

"Research: Vitamins may increase mortality"

I would have to disagree with the headline. After years of my personal research, it is my expert opinion that taking vitamins provides no increase to your mortality. I'm pretty sure the biggest factor in determining a persons probability of mortality is their birth. Once a person applies for and attains a birthday, their mortality is pretty much guaranteed from that point on.

Underdog's

A few weeks ago I was at a store and they were having a sale on DVD's.  I saw a copy of Seabiscuit, and while I had seen the movie before, I bought the DVD mostly because it was a good deal, not because I was a huge fan of the movie.  Tonight I watched it for the first time after bringing it home with me, and I have to say it was one of the more emotional movies I have recently watched.  My eyes got watery multiple times during the movie.  

I think the main reason for this is that Seabiscuit was an underdog, just like my Dad.  My Dad was born during the great depression, and didn't have the same range of options as we enjoy today.  He was lucky enough to go to college, and was the first member of our family to obtain a college degree.  He then parlayed that into an extremely successful career, due to his ability to set goals and work hard to achieve them.  Watching the movie reminded me so much of my Dad and how he overcame so many challenges in his life.  He passed away just over a year ago, but he still has a huge influence in my life.  I try and live so that he would be proud of me, and I find myself still trying to do things that we spoke about while he was alive.  Anyway, watching the movie about overcoming setbacks and doing your best were probably two of the most dominant themes of my Dad's life, and if was a good reminder of how valuable those qualities can be in determining your success in life.

Predictions

As some of you may know, I am a fan of apple.  I have recently upgraded or bought for the first time a number of their products.  Including, but not limited to, a Time Capsule, an iPod Touch, and an Apple TV.  The iPhone is next on my list, but I am waiting until iPhone version 2.0 comes out.   Within apple products there is always much speculation as to when the next version of a new product will be released.  It is in this spirit that I offer my own prediction for when iPhone 2.0 will be released.  The reason I am publishing this prediction on my blog is so that if I am right, I'll have proof of how genius I am.  And if I am wrong, well then I will be no different than a majority of bloggers that are making their own predictions.

First, Apple has already stated that they are working on a new software update for the iPhone, and that update will be released in June.  It only makes sense to distribute the new hardware version once the new software version is in place and ready to go.  So we are looking for a launch sometime during June.  Also, for that past few product launches, Apple has just barely meet their deadline, often releasing new products just days before the end of the target month.  Throw in the fact the original iPhone was released on the 29th of June and Apple always releases products on Tuesdays, and I think the next revision will be be released on June 24th. 

Some might argue that it will be released during the World Wide Developers Conference that takes place the first week in June, but I would disagree.  Apple has already demoed the new software to be placed on the iPhone when they released the Software Developers Kit in February.  I am going to stick to June 24th and see how I come out.  And whenever it is released, I plan on adding the iPhone to my current collection of Apple products.

Could I have been

The following exchange from "The Office" has been replaying in my head today:

Dwight: Just think. That temp agency could have sent you anywhere.
Ryan: I think about that every day.